Storage medium including metadata and reproduction apparatus and method therefor

ABSTRACT

A storage medium including metadata, which provide an extended search function using a variety of search keywords on audio-visual data, and a reproduction apparatus and a reproduction method of reproducing the storage medium. The storage medium includes: audio-visual data; and metadata to provide an extended search function on the audio-visual data, wherein the metadata include a predefined search keyword and a search keyword which may be additionally defined by an author. Accordingly, by using a variety of search keywords additionally defined by an author as well as predefined search keywords, providing an extended search function is possible. In addition, by recording only portions of the metadata relative directly to supporting multiple languages in an additional text-based file, providing an extended search function using a plurality of languages is also possible.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a Continuation of application Ser. No. 11/176,239,filed Jul. 8, 2005, now pending, which claims the benefit of KoreanApplication No. 2004-60281, filed Jul. 30, 2004, and Korean ApplicationNo. 2004-108022, filed Dec. 17, 2004, in the Korean IntellectualProperty Office, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein byreference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

An aspect of the present invention relates to reproduction ofaudio-visual (AV) data recorded in a storage medium, and, moreparticularly to a storage medium including metadata, which provide anextended search function using a variety of search keywords onaudio-visual data, and an apparatus and method of reproducing thestorage medium.

2. Description of the Related Art

Storage media such as DVDs may store audio-visual data including videodata, audio data, and/or subtitles, all of which are compressed andencoded in accordance with standards such as Motion Picture ExpertsGroup (MPEG). Such storage media may further store additionalinformation such as encoding attributes of the audio-visual data orreproduction procedures of the audio-visual data. Accordingly, motionpictures that are recorded in the storage media are reproducedsequentially in accordance with the reproduction information. In somecases, the audio-visual data may be reproduced through a jump in a unitof chapters.

However, the conventional storage may not be reproduced through a jumpto a desired scene in accordance with a user's search conditions. Thatis, there does not exist an apparatus or a method of reproducingaudio-visual data in accordance with the user's desired searchconditions such as scene, characters, locations, background music,properties, etc.

Since the audio-visual data are compressed, encoded, and multiplexed inaccordance with the MPEG2 standard, conventional DVDs have problems instoring metadata that provides search functions on audio-visual data.Also there is little possibility to edit or reuse audio-visual data ormetadata once the storage medium has been produced.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An aspect of the present invention provides a storage medium includingmetadata, which provide an extended search function using a variety ofsearch keywords on audio-visual data, and an apparatus for and a methodof reproducing the storage medium.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided astorage medium including: audio-visual data; and metadata to provide anextended search function on the audio-visual data, wherein the metadatainclude a predefined search keyword and a search keyword which may beadditionally defined by an author. The metadata may be embodied in abinary type, and the metadata may include additional text fields toadditionally define the author-defined search keyword and a keywordvalue of the author-defined search keyword. The metadata may be embodiedin a text-based markup language type, and the metadata may includeadditional elements or attributes for additionally defining theauthor-defined search keyword and a keyword value of the author-definedsearch keyword. Parameters irrelative to supporting multiple languagesin the metadata may be included in a binary type in the audio-visualdata, and parameters relative to supporting multiple languages may beembodied in an additional text-based file.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provideda reproduction apparatus comprising: a search unit to search a storagemedium for a position of audio-visual data satisfying a predeterminedsearch condition with reference to metadata, the storage mediumincluding the audio-visual data and the metadata providing an extendedsearch function on the audio-visual data; and a reproduction unit toreproduce the audio-visual data from the searched-out position, whereinthe metadata includes a predetermined search keyword and a searchkeyword which may be additionally defined by an author. The search unitmay select the metadata corresponding to language information supportingsubtitle, audio, and/or menu stored in a system parameter.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provideda reproduction method comprising: searching a storage medium for aposition of audio-visual data satisfying a predetermined searchcondition with reference to metadata, the storage medium including theaudio-visual data and the metadata providing an extended search functionon the audio-visual data; and reproducing the audio-visual data from thesearched-out position, wherein the metadata includes a predeterminedsearch keyword and a search keyword which may be additionally defined byan author.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provideda storage medium including: audio-visual data; and metadata to providean extended search function on the audio-visual data, wherein themetadata include a predefined search keyword and a search keyword whichmay be additionally defined by an author, and the metadata are includedin information on an entire disk and/or title information.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provideda reproduction apparatus comprising: a search unit to search a storagemedium for information on an entire disk and/or title informationsatisfying a predetermined search condition with reference to metadata,the storage medium including the audio-visual data and the metadataproviding an extended search function on the audio-visual data; and adisplay unit to display the information on the entire disk and/or titleinformation, wherein the metadata includes a predetermined searchkeyword and a search keyword which may be additionally defined by anauthor.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provideda reproduction method comprising: searching a storage medium forinformation on an entire disk and/or title information satisfying apredetermined search condition with reference to metadata, the storagemedium including the audio-visual data and the metadata providing anextended search function on the audio-visual data; and displaying theinformation on the entire disk and/or title information, wherein themetadata includes a predetermined search keyword and a search keywordwhich may be additionally defined by an author.

Additional and/or other aspects and advantages of the invention will beset forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will beobvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of theinvention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and/or other aspects and advantages of the invention will becomeapparent and more readily appreciated from the following description ofthe embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings ofwhich:

FIGS. 1A and 1B show embodiments of metadata according to the presentinvention;

FIG. 2 shows an embodiment of metadata to which an author may add asearch keyword according to the present invention;

FIG. 3 shows an embodiment in which the structure of metadata shown inFIG. 2 is embodied in a text type;

FIG. 4 shows another embodiment of metadata to which an author may add asearch keyword according to the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a structure of audio-visual dataincluding metadata according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a structure of a play list mark in theaudio-visual data including the metadata according to an embodiment ofthe present invention;

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a structure of the metadata supportingmultiple languages according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating a structure of a reproductionapparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a reproduction method using theextended search function according to an embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a structure of metadata on an entiredisk according to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an example employing the metadata onan entire disk according to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 12A and 12B are diagrams illustrating a structure and an exampleof author-defined metadata included in the metadata on the entire diskaccording to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 13A and 13B are diagrams of nesting structure and an example ofthe author-defined metadata;

FIG. 14 shows an example of a reproduction apparatus providing diskinformation or title information using the extended search functionaccording to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 15 is a flowchart illustrating a method of providing the diskinformation or the title information using the extended search functionaccording to another embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 16 shows a recording and/or reproducing apparatus according to anembodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

Reference will now be made in detail to the present embodiments of thepresent invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to the like elementsthroughout. The embodiments are described below in order to explain thepresent invention by referring to the figures.

FIGS. 1A and 1B show embodiments of metadata according to the presentinvention. FIG. 1A shows text-based metadata and FIG. 1B showsbinary-based metadata. Referring to FIG. 1A, text-based metadata 101described in a markup language, etc., are divided in scene units 102 orchapters. The scene elements include specific elements 103 indicatingcharacters, properties, locations, background music, etc., and thespecific elements 103 may be used as search keywords for an extendedsearch of audio-visual data.

On the other hand, referring to FIG. 1B, in binary-based metadata 1 usedin a programming language such as C, C++, etc., binary codes shown inFIG. 1B may be included in a play list as a play sequence to reproduce amovie or in an audio-visual data stream. At this time, elements of themetadata which may be used as search keywords are preliminarily definedin a metadata type (metadata_type) 111. For example, characters aredefined as a type value of “0, properties are defined as a type value of“1, locations are defined as a type value of “2, and background music isdefined as a type value of “3 in advance.

Accordingly, the type values corresponding to desired search keywordsamong the predefined metadata type values are allocated to the searchpoints 111 in the audio-visual data stream. Then, keyword valuescorresponding to the search keywords are allocated to respectivedescription fields 112. For example, when a user intends to search outonly those scenes in which the character “Neo” appears in the movie “TheMatrix”, “0 indicating a character in the metadata type 111 is allocatedto the search points in which “Neo” appears in the audio-visual datastream, and “Neo” is specified as a description field 112 indicating thekeyword value. As a result, a user may search out and reproduce only thescenes in which “Neo” appears from the audio-visual data stream.

That is, while storage media such as conventional DVDs support onlyreproduction based on scenes, chapters, or time, the metadata embodiedas shown in FIG. 1A or 1B may provide an extended search function.

However, in FIG. 1A or 1B, there is a problem in that a new searchkeyword may not be added because the search keywords are defined inadvance in the audio-visual data stream. A structure of metadata towhich an author may additionally define a search keyword will bedescribed as metadata for the extended search.

FIG. 2 shows an embodiment of metadata to which an author may add asearch keyword according to the present invention. Referring to FIG. 2,a tree structure of a markup document 2 in which metadata is embodied isshown. Scene elements 202 are included as specific elements of themetadata elements 201, and keyword elements 203 are included as specificelements of the scene elements. Each keyword element 203 has a searchkeyword, which an author has an opportunity to additionally define, as acontent of the corresponding element. A description element 204 having akeyword value corresponding to the author-defined search keyword ascontent thereof is included as a specific element of each keywordelement 203. On the other hand, the keyword element 203 or thedescription element 204 may be embodied as an attribute instead of thespecific element of the scene element 202.

More specifically, an example of a markup document in which the metadatashown in FIG. 2 are described in a markup language will be presented.FIG. 3 shows an example in which the metadata structure shown in FIG. 2is embodied in a text type.

Referring to FIG. 3, the markup document 2 in which the metadataaccording to the present invention is described includes a metadataelement <metadata> 301, a scene element <scene> 302, keyword elements<keyword> 303, and a description element <description> 304. The metadataelement <metadata> 301 includes link information on a play sequence<link href=“xxxx play sequence”/>. The metadata element includes thescene element <scene> 302 as a specific element. The scene element<scene> 302 includes the keyword elements <keyword> 303 having a varietyof author-defined search keywords as contents and the descriptionelements <description> 304 having keyword values corresponding to thesearch keywords as specific elements. For example, in order to use acharacter as a new search keyword at scene ID “001, “Character” may bedefined as a content of element <keyword> and “Bruce Lee” may be definedas a content of element <description>, which is a keyword valuecorresponding to the search keyword “Character”. Otherwise, locationsand properties may be also defined as a new search keyword.

That is, in the metadata according to the present embodiment, the searchkeywords are not defined in advance as shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B, but thesearch keywords as contents of the keyword elements may be additionallydefined by an author. Accordingly, the author may newly define and use avariety of search keywords without restriction and without conventionalterms used at the time of producing a title.

On the other hand, FIG. 4 shows another embodiment of metadata in whichan author may add search keywords according to the present invention.Referring to FIG. 4, an example of binary-based metadata is illustrated.The metadata according to the present embodiment includes two text-typefields such that an author may newly define and use not only adescription field 404 indicating a keyword value but also a keywordfield 403 to indicate a search keyword, similarly to the text-basedmetadata shown in FIG. 3. While only the predefined search keywords inthe metadata type field are used in FIG. 1B, a variety of searchkeywords may be added by an author using the keyword field 403 in thepresent embodiment.

Next, relations between the metadata in which the author may add a newsearch keyword and the audio-visual data providing high-quality videowill be described. FIG. 5 is a diagram to illustrate a structure of theaudio-visual data including the metadata according to an embodiment ofthe present invention. Referring to FIG. 5, a clip, which acts as arecording unit of the audio-visual data, and a play list, which acts asa unit of reproduction, are shown. Specifically, the above-mentionedplay sequence is embodied as the play list.

The clip as a recording unit of the audio-visual data includes a clipA/V stream 540 in which a video data stream, an audio data stream, andother data streams compressed and encoded are recorded and clipinformation 530 in which information on encoding attributes for the clipA/V stream 540 is recorded. The clip A/V stream 540 multiplexes thevideo data stream, the audio data stream, and other data streams,compresses and encodes the multiplexed data streams, and records thecompressed and encoded data streams. Each packet is identified by aPacket Identification (PID) as a packet identifier.

On the other hand, the play list 510 to indicate a play sequence whichspecifies a reproduction order of the audio-visual data as a unit ofreproduction includes play items 120 a to 120 c. That is, the play list510 includes a plurality of play items (in this case, play items 120 ato 120 c).

Specifically, the play list 510 further includes a play list mark 511 toindicate specific positions of the above-mentioned clip. The play listmark includes the metadata 512 to provide an extended search functionaccording to an embodiment of the present invention. An example in whichthe metadata 512 is included and recorded in the play list mark 511 ofthe play list 510 is shown in FIG. 5. While it is understood that themetadata 512 may be defined separately from the play list mark 511 ofthe play list 510, or may be recorded in a binary type or a text type ina space independent of the play list 510, for the convenience ofexplanation, the example where the metadata are included in the playlist mark of the play list is described based on FIG. 5.

The play items 120 a to 120 c include information such as “name” and“IN_time” and “OUT_time” of the clip information 530 file to bereproduced, so as to specify a clip or clips to be reproduced and areproducing position or positions in the corresponding clip.

Specifically, as shown in the figure, the play list mark 511, used tospecify a specific position in the play list, has the followingstructure.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating the structure of the play list mark inthe audio-visual data including the metadata according to an embodimentof the present invention. Referring to FIG. 6, the play list mark 511includes an inherent identifier information (PlayListMark Identifier)field 610 to indicate the identifier of the play list mark, a mark typeinformation (Type of Mark) field 620 to indicate the purpose of the playlist mark, a keyword (Keyword) field 630 and a description (Description)field 640 to be effective only when the mark type is a metadata mark, aninherent identifier information (Reference to Playitem Identifier) field650 to indicate the identifier of the play item corresponding to themark, and a mark time stamp (Mark Time Stamp) field 660 to indicate timeinformation, including time points of the play item at which the playlist mark is positioned. Any one of an entry mark (Entry Mark) 621, alink point (Link Point) 622, and the metadata mark (Metadata Mark) 623,according to an embodiment of the present invention, is allocated to themark type field 620 to indicate the purpose of the play list markHere,the metadata mark 623 is allocated to the mark type field 620.

As is described above, the metadata enables an author to newly define asearch keyword using the keyword field 630 and to designate a keywordvalue corresponding to the search keyword using the description field640. Accordingly, the author may newly add a variety of search keywords.

On the other hand, since the play list mark 511 including the metadatais included in a binary type in the play list as shown in FIG. 5, theplay list mark is included in “In-Mux” type in the audio-visual datastream. Accordingly, binding the metadata to the audio-visual datastream is relatively easy and providing the extended search functionusing a variety of keywords that are defined by an author at the time ofreproduction thereof is possible.

However, it is understood that the play list mark 511 included in abinary type in the play list 510 may additionally provide support formultiple languages. That is, the reproduction apparatus to reproducedata recorded on the storage medium, according to the present invention,loads all the play lists on a memory, then extracts search keywords,which may be selected from the metadata information by a user by usingan application having a programming function recorded in the storagemedium or a specific module in the reproduction apparatus, and displaysthe extracted search keywords on a display unit. At this time, thesearch keywords are displayed in a specific language recorded in thekeywords and descriptions when first preparing the metadata. That is,the play list mark 511 included in a binary type in the play list has adisadvantage of not supporting multiple languages.

Here, preparing the play list in all languages to support a plurality oflanguages is not desirable. This is due to the fact that great resourcesincluded in the keyword and description fields so as to support such aplurality of languages require a greater memory.

In order to solve such a problem, the structure of metadata to supportthe plurality of languages is now described as another embodiment of thepresent invention. FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a structure of themetadata to support multiple languages according to an embodiment of thepresent invention.

As is described above, general audio-visual data are multiplexed into avariety of applications such as graphic streams for subtitles or menusin a main audio-video data stream. This is due to the fact that bindingand synchronizing the applications with the main audio-visual datastream is relatively easy.

Therefore, in another embodiment of the present invention, only thekeyword portions and the description portions of the metadata that aredirectly relative to the support for multiple languages are embodied inan additional text-based metadata type, and the identifier informationor the time information of the metadata directly irrelative to thesupport for multiple languages are included in a binary type in the mainaudio-visual data stream.

Accordingly, the reproduction apparatus may obtain the metadata, thetime of application, and information on the predefined keywords usingthe play list included in the main audio-visual data stream. By definingonly the author-defined keywords and the descriptions thereof in thetext-based metadata file, reducing the size of the metadata file ispossible. In addition, since the keywords and the descriptions thereofexist in a particular file other than the main audio-visual data stream,supporting multiple languages is also possible.

Referring to FIG. 7, the metadata mark providing the extended searchfunction is defined as a kind of mark type 710 in the play list mark511. A keyword descriptor (Keyword Descriptor) field 720, beingeffective only when the mark type is a metadata mark, is also defined inthe play list mark 511. The keyword descriptor field 720 has apredetermined number of bits. The keyword descriptor field 720 isdivided into a flag region to indicate an existence of a specifickeyword defined in advance and a flag region to indicate existence of apredetermined keyword which may be additionally defined by an author.For example, suppose that the keyword descriptor field 720 consists ofN+M bits, where the N bits, corresponding to the former flag region 721,indicate the existence of N predefined search keywords and the M bits,corresponding to the latter flag region 722, indicate the existence of Mauthor-defined search keywords. When a search keyword of thecorresponding bit exists, a value “1b” is allocated. When a searchkeyword of the corresponding bit does not exist, a value “0b” isallocated.

Referring to the bit structure of the keyword descriptor 720 shown inFIG. 7, for example, when “character” indicating a character isallocated as a predefined search keyword to an author-defined Flag 1 721of a bit, the value of “0b” set to the bit indicates that thecorresponding search keyword is not effective. The value of “1b” set tothe bit means that the search keyword corresponding to “character” iseffective. The same is true of an author-defined flag 722 of anotherbit. In this way, effectiveness of a search keyword may be indicatedusing the keyword descriptor field 720.

On the other hand, the text-based metadata file 713 exists separatelyfrom the above-mentioned play list mark 511 so as to support multiplelanguages. It is desirable that the text-based metadata file 713includes language information to indicate supported languages asattribute information (“lang” in the figure) so as to support multiplelanguages. Specifically, it is desirable that the same language code asis designated in a reproduction apparatus status register to storelanguage information on any one of a subtitle, audio data, and a menu ofthe reproduction apparatus is used for the language information.Furthermore, since the text-based metadata file 713 is independent ofthe above-mentioned play list mark 511, it is desirable that thetext-based metadata file 713 includes identifiers of the storage medium(“disc_id” in the figure) and/or title identifier information(“title_id” in the figure) for the binding to the main audio-visual datastream.

The metadata file 713 shown at the lower end of FIG. 7 includes elements<author_defined> 722 and 723 for the search keywords which may bedefined by the author. The search keywords, newly defined by the author,are used as contents of the elements. At this time, the first element722 for the author-defined search keyword is a search keywordcorresponding to the first bit having the value of “1b” in theauthor-defined flag of the above-mentioned keyword descriptor 721. Forexample, when the (N+1)-th bit of the keyword descriptor 720 is “1b”,the element <author_defined> 722 which is first defined in the metadatafile 713 indicates the corresponding search keyword. An element <marker>724 having the keyword value corresponding to the search keyword as acontent is also included. An element <param> 725 having the keywordvalues of a plurality of search keywords applied at the correspondingmark time point as a content may be further included as a specificelement. Of course, the keyword values may be expressed in an attributetype, instead of the element <param>.

Specifically, it is assumed that the keyword descriptor 720 included inthe play list mark of FIG. 7 has 8 bits and the value thereof is“01001100. The sixth, third, and second bits may have the value of “1b”,the sixth bit may indicate “character” as a predefined search keyword,and the elements <author_defined> of the third and second bits mayindicate “property” and “location” in the additional metadata file 713,respectively. At this time, the keyword values corresponding to thesearch keywords are “Bruce”, “Gun”, and “LA” as defined by the elements<param> 725.

Of course, the elements <author_defined> may indicate

and

respectively, and the elements <param> 725 may indicate

and

respectively, in Korean. Accordingly, providing the extended searchfunction supporting multiple languages correspondingly to the languagerequired by a user is possible.

A reproduction apparatus and a reproduction method to reproduce thestorage medium including the above-mentioned metadata will now bedescribed.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating a reproduction apparatusaccording to the present invention. Referring to FIG. 8, thereproduction apparatus according to an embodiment of the presentinvention comprises a read unit 820, a search unit 840, and areproduction unit 850. The read unit 820 reads out the audio-visual dataand the metadata from the storage medium. Although not shown, theaudio-visual data and the metadata read out by the read unit 820 may betemporarily stored in a buffer unit (not shown) in the read unit 820 andthen transmitted to the reproduction unit 850.

The search unit 840 searches the storage medium for the position of theaudio-visual data satisfying a predetermined search condition externallyinput with reference to the metadata. Here, the storage medium includesa plurality of metadata used as a search reference of the audio-visualdata.

That is, the search unit 840 receives the metadata from the read unit820, compares information on the search keywords included in themetadata with the predetermined search condition externally input, andthen transmits position information of the audio-visual data included ina play list mark corresponding to the search condition or anadditionally-defined mark to the reproduction unit 850. The reproductionunit 850 reproduces the corresponding part of the audio-visual data onthe basis of the position information of the audio-visual data searchedout by the search unit 840.

The reproduction method of reproducing the storage medium including themetadata according to an embodiment of the present invention isdescribed based on the structure described above. FIG. 9 is a flowchartillustrating the reproduction method using the extended search functionaccording to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG.9, in order to reproduce the storage medium including the metadataproviding the extended search function, a predetermined search conditionis first input (operation 920). Next, the audio-visual data and themetadata are read out from the storage medium and a position of theaudio-visual data satisfying the predetermined search condition issearched out with reference to the metadata (operation 922). Then, theaudio-visual data are reproduced from the searched-out position(operation 924).

Specifically, in searching out the position of the audio-visual datawith reference to the metadata, the input search condition and thesearch keyword information of the metadata are compared with each otherto search out a play list mark corresponding to the search condition oran additionally-defined mark, and the corresponding position of theaudio-visual data is searched out with reference to the positioninformation included in the searched-out play list mark or theadditionally-defined mark.

Hitherto, the data structure, the reproduction apparatus, and thereproduction method to provide the extended search function on theaudio-visual data included in the respective titles of the storagemedium by using the metadata have been described in detail. In addition,an extended structure of metadata and an embodying method thereof toprovide the extended search function on an entire disk as well as therespective titles to enlarge the extended search function will bedescribed.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating a structure of metadata on theentire disk according to another embodiment of the present invention.Referring to FIG. 10, the metadata for an entire disk according to thepresent invention includes disk information 1010 used in common withinformation on the disk or all the titles of the disk and titleinformation 1020 relative to the titles recorded on the disk. The titleinformation 1020 and the disk information 1010 further include metadata1012 and 1022 which may provide the extended search function and bedefined by an author. Accordingly, as shown in FIGS. 1A and 9, providingextended metadata to provide the extended search function on contentsstored in the titles or the disk, as well as the metadata to provide theextended search function on the audio-visual data itself, is possible.

More specifically, the disk information 1010 may include metadatarelative to production of the disk, metadata relative to resources ofthe disk, and metadata 1012 defined by the author of the disk. Themetadata relative to the production of the disk may include disk name,content list, copyright, release information, etc. The metadata relativeto resources of the disk may include thumbnail or URL addresses ofrelevant information.

On the other hand, similarly to the disk information 1010, the titleinformation 1020 may include metadata relative to production ofcontents, metadata relative to presentation of the contents, metadatarelative to classification of the contents, metadata relative toresources of the contents, and metadata 1022 defined by the author ofthe contents. The metadata relative to production of the contents mayinclude title name, title type, information on organizations involved inproduction and release of the title, etc. The metadata relative topresentation of the contents may include aspect ratio, subtitles, runtime, information on support for audio, etc. The metadata relative toclassification of the contents may include credit, promotioninformation, content type, review, etc. The credit is information onpersons relative to production of the titles and may include informationon actor, director, producer, music producer, scenario writer, etc. Thepromotion information is associated with genre, language, parentalguide, etc. The metadata relative to resources of the contents mayinclude synopsis, information on prize, and information on URL addressesof relevant data.

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an example where the metadata for anentire disk is applied according to another embodiment of the presentinvention. Referring to FIG. 11, the metadata 1000 for an entire diskare stored in a unit of disks or in a unit of volumes in a storage unitsuch as a hard disk of a reproduction apparatus, when the disk isinserted into and loaded in the reproduction apparatus. Accordingly,even when the disk is removed from the reproduction apparatus, aspecific disk or a specific title may be searched out using the metadata1000 (also referred to as a disk library) stored in a unit of disks orin a unit of volumes in the storage unit. Specifically, the specificdisk or the specific title may be searched out using the metadata 1012and 1022 additionally defined by the author as well as disk informationor title information defined in advance as shown in detail in FIG. 10.That is, while the extended search shown in FIGS. 1A to 9 is restrictedto the audio-visual data of a title, the extended search shown in FIGS.10 and 11 is enlarged to the entire disk. In addition, while it is animportant purpose of the former to search out the position of theaudio-visual data satisfying the search condition and to reproduce theaudio-visual data from the searched-out position, it is an importantpurpose of the latter to display the contents satisfying the searchcondition in a type of disk information or title information. FIGS. 12Aand 12B are diagrams illustrating a structure of author-defined metadataincluded in the metadata for the entire disk and an example thereofaccording to another embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 12A, when an author wants to additionally definemetadata in addition to the descriptors of the metadata defined inadvance, the author-defined metadata “authordef” 1012A may be used. Forexample, when the author intends to add information on a supportingactress, the supporting actress is input to Element name of “authordef”,another “authordef” is defined as a specific element of the “authordef”,and the name of the supporting actress is input to Element “name” of thenewly defined “authordef”.

An example in which the author-defined metadata are embodied in a markupdocument type is shown in FIG. 12B. Referring to FIG. 12B, the diskinformation element includes the author-defined element <authordef>,which includes Element <name> specifying the element name. The element<authordef> includes another element <authordef> as a specific elementin which <name> may be defined. For example, in order to define theauthor-defined metadata for a supporting actress, “supporting_actress”may be specified in the element <name> of the generic element<authordef>, and “Actress1 may be specified in the element <name> of thespecific element <authordef>.

FIGS. 13A and 13B are diagrams illustrating a nesting structure ofauthor-defined metadata and an example thereof. Referring to FIGS. 13Aand 13B, an element “supporting actress name” is defined as a specificelement of an element “supporting actress” and an element “profile (castworks)” is defined as a specific element of the element “supportingactress name”. In this way, providing hierarchical metadata using theauthor-defined elements <authordef> and <name> is possible. That is, byadding the author-defined information using the metadata “authordef”,classifying and displaying more detailed information through the nestingof the element “authordef” is possible.

On the other hand, FIG. 14 shows an example of a reproduction apparatusproviding disk information or title information using the extendedsearch function according to another embodiment of the presentinvention. Referring to FIG. 14, the reproduction apparatus allows asearch unit 1420 to search a metadata storage unit for metadata inaccordance with an input search condition through a user interface unit1430 and to output the results of the search through a display unit1440. The multimedia data reproduction apparatus comprises the metadatastorage unit 1410, the search unit 1420, the user interface unit 1430,and the display unit 1440. The metadata storage unit 1410 receivesmetadata from a storage medium such as a disk and stores the receivedmetadata. When a user inserts a storage medium into the multimedia datareproduction apparatus and the reproduction apparatus loads the storagemedium once, the metadata relative to the storage medium are not deletedbut remains in the metadata storage unit 1410, even when the storagemedium is ejected. The user inputs search conditions for the metadata tothe user interface unit 1430. That is, keywords for disk name, actor,actress, director, etc., are input using a remote controller or otherdevices. The search unit 1420 searches the metadata and outputs themetadata corresponding to the user's search condition to the displayunit 1440.

On the other hand, FIG. 15 is a flowchart illustrating a method ofproviding disk information or title information using the extendedsearch function according to another embodiment of the presentinvention.

Referring to FIG. 15, a predetermined search condition is input(operation 1510). Metadata are read out from a disk library stored inthe metadata storage unit 1410 such as a hard disk and disk informationor title information satisfying the search condition is searched outwith reference to the read-out metadata (operation 1512). Thesearched-out disk information or title information is displayed on thedisplay unit (operation 1514). As a result, the disk information ortitle information corresponding to the search condition may be providedto the user.

As is described above, according to aspects of the present invention,there is provided a storage medium including metadata, which provide anextended search function using a variety of search keywords onaudio-visual data, and reproduction apparatus and method of reproducingthe storage medium.

Specifically, the metadata according to aspects of the present inventionprovide the search keywords which may be additionally defined by anauthor, in addition to the predefined search keywords.

Accordingly, the conventional problem may be solved that theaudio-visual data or the metadata in a storage medium once producedcould not be edited or reused, so that providing an extended searchfunction using a variety of keywords defined by an author at the time ofreproduction is possible.

Furthermore, by recording only portions of the metadata directlyrelative to the support for multiple languages in an additionaltext-based file, providing an extended search function using a pluralityof languages is possible.

Further, providing an extended search function of searching out anddisplaying the information on contents in a unit of disks or in a unitof titles is also possible.

On the other hand, the extended search method according to aspects ofthe present invention may be embodied as computer programs. Codes andcode segments constituting the programs may be easily construed byprogrammers skilled in the art. The programs may be stored in a computerreadable medium and read by a computer, thereby embodying the extendedsearch method. Examples of the computer readable medium include magneticmedia and optical media. Of course, other types of computer readablemedia are possible.

FIG. 16 is a block diagram of a recording and/or reproducing apparatusaccording to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG.16, the recording and/or reproducing apparatus for use with a userinterface unit and a display unit to provide disk information and/ortitle information using an extended search function includes arecording/reading unit 1601, a controller 1602, and an optical disk 1610onto which and from which data is recorded/reproduced by therecording/reading unit 1601 according to the control of the controller1602. According to embodiments of the invention, the controller 1602includes the metadata storage unit 1410 and the search unit 1420, asshown in FIG. 14. As such, the controller 1602 is able to store metadataassociated with the disk information and is further able to search inthe stored metadata in accordance with an input search condition throughthe user interface unit 1430 of FIG. 14. Further, the controller 1602outputs the results of the search through the display unit 1440 as setforth in relation to the discussion above and to FIG. 14. It isunderstood, that the user interface includes but is not limited tokeyboards, mousse, voice command receptors, or combinations thereof.Similarly, the display unit may be a monitor, a TV screen, or the like.

Although a few embodiments of the present invention have been shown anddescribed, it would be appreciated by those skilled in the art thatchanges may be made in these embodiments without departing from theprinciples and spirit of the invention, the scope of which is defined inthe claims and their equivalents.

1. A storage medium to be used with a reproducing apparatus and to storedata including audio/visual (AV) data and metadata, the storage mediumcomprising: a plurality of scene elements of the AV data comprising aplurality of scenes; keyword elements as specific elements of thecorresponding scene elements, each keyword element comprising a searchkeyword, which an author selectively defines, as a content of thecorresponding scene element, the search keyword being used by thereproducing apparatus in searching for each scene of the AV data; and adescription element, comprising a keyword value corresponding to theauthor-defined search keyword as content thereof, as a specific elementof each keyword element, wherein the author-defined search keyword isadditionally defined by an author, and enables the author to addinformation that is necessary to describe content of the storage mediumand wherein the author defined keyword comprises a first element and asecond element, the first element comprises a field and the searchkeyword defined by the author, the field indicating that the searchkeyword defined by the author is defined by the author, the secondelement is in a lower level of the search keyword defined by the author,and comprises an actual keyword value which specifies a particular valueof the search keyword defined in the first element.
 2. The storagemedium according to claim 1, wherein the keyword elements and/or thedescription element are attributes of the corresponding scene element.3. A reproducing apparatus to reproduce data recorded on a storagemedium, the data including audio-visual (AV) data and metadata, theapparatus comprising: a read unit configured to read: the AV datacomprising a plurality of scenes; and the metadata comprising at leastone search keyword which is used by the reproducing apparatus insearching for each scene of the audio-visual data from the storagemedium; a search unit configured to search the storage medium for aposition of the AV data that satisfies an externally input predeterminedsearch condition with reference to the metadata; and a reproduction unitconfigured to reproduce a corresponding part of the AV data, based onthe position of the AV data that satisfies an externally inputpredetermined search condition, wherein the at least one search keywordcomprises: a predefined search keyword, and an author defined searchkeyword which is to be additionally defined by an author, and whereinthe author defined search keyword enables the author to add informationthat is necessary to describe content of the storage medium, and whereinthe author defined keyword comprises a first element and a secondelement, the first element comprises a field and the search keyworddefined by the author, the field indicating that the search keyworddefined by the author is defined by the author, the second element is ina lower level of the search keyword defined by the author, and comprisesan actual keyword value which specifies a particular value of the searchkeyword defined in the first element.
 4. The apparatus according toclaim 3, wherein the search unit is further configured to: receive themetadata from the read unit; compare information on search keywordsincluded in the metadata with the search condition; and then transmitposition information of the AV data and/or an additionally-defined playmark to the reproduction unit.
 5. A method of operating a reproducingapparatus to reproduce audio/visual (AV) data recorded on a storagemedium, the AV data including metadata, the method comprising: inputtinga predetermined search condition; reading the AV data comprising aplurality of scenes and the metadata from the storage medium; searchingout a position of the AV data satisfying the predetermined searchcondition with reference to the metadata; and reproducing the AV datafrom the searched-out position, wherein the metadata comprises at leastone search keyword which is used by the reproducing apparatus insearching for each scene of the AV data, wherein the at least one searchkeyword comprises: a predefined search keyword, and an author definedsearch keyword which is to be additionally defined by an author, andwherein the author defined search keyword enables the author to addinformation that is necessary to describe content of the storage medium,and wherein the author defined keyword comprises a first element and asecond element, the first element comprises a field and the searchkeyword defined by the author, the field indicating that the searchkeyword defined by the author is defined by the author, the secondelement is in a lower level of the search keyword defined by the author,and comprises an actual keyword value which specifies a particular valueof the search keyword defined in the first element.